This special section marks the launch of the annual Startups to Watch list, a collection of startups New Mexico Inno will keep an eye on in the next 12 months.
The list of 10 honorees includes businesses in various sectors — sustainable energy, health care and mobile communications, to name a few. Our Startups to Watch are trying to use data to identify the “social determinants of health” and deploy space-mining technology.
Like New Mexico’s broader startup ecosystem, one industry or vertical isn’t responsible for the majority of the startups we are watching. Generally, each company has raised funding and is in the process of developing or commercializing technology.
Startups to Watch honorees were selected by New Mexico Inno reporter Collin Krabbe, who, when considering each honoree, looked at how the businesses performed in 2021, as well as what they have planned in 2022.
In the coming days, you will have a chance to read about each startup online and see the work they are doing to grow their businesses in New Mexico and beyond. All 10 companies were also highlighted in the Feb. 4 print edition of Albuquerque Business First.
Next up, Falling Colors.
Falling Colors
Falling Colors hopes to make its mark on Santa Fe this year.
The organization works with government entities and nonprofits to “broaden the attainment of the social determinants of health for communities.” They do this via analytics, configurable software systems and other data tools that manage funds, track costs and measure impact.
The startup is also working to improve its own workspace.
Falling Colors plans to work with Bradbury Stamm Construction, which has offices in Albuquerque and Minnesota, to refurbish The White Building in Santa Fe’s Downtown and Eastside Historic District, company officials confirmed to Business First in January.
Falling Colors general counsel Sam Wolf told Business First that its on-site gardens have already been “substantially completed” and include beehives, allowing Falling Colors to harvest its own honey. The company is billing The White Building as a place where people can both enjoy the public gardens, as well as host events.
CEO Pamela Koster and chief financial officer Mindy Hale founded Falling Colors in 2015, and the organization has a stated focus on diversity. It also operates a nonprofit called the Falling Colors Foundation, which allocates a portion of the company’s profits toward organizations and programs that promote the social determinants of health.
“A lot of recent research seems to be pointing to what Falling Colors has always recognized: That a team of diverse people with different backgrounds and life experiences is a tremendous asset to our company,” Koster said in a statement in April 2021.
As of January, Falling Colors employed 32 people with three quarters of them in Santa Fe, according to Wolf. Six positions were open for developer, data and analytics positions with hiring to occur throughout the year “based on need,” he added.
